'What if Prince Albert's typhoid had killed him and left him unable to diffuse the Trent Affair, leading a depressed and widowed Queen Victoria to carry out an attack on the U.S. on the eve of the Civil War?

Alt history where something happens that affects the US Civil War or WW2 is overdone, like the article says, but Godzilla attacking Boston in 1773 is an interesting twist. One that i'm sure ends in the British subjects in the American colonies realising, finally, just how much Britain does for them, and the lengths and sacrifices it makes to guarantee the safety of the colonies. Realising this they agree a small tax on tea isn't too much to ask and everyone lives happily ever after.

The problem is, most alt history has to revolve around changing a single point in history; that's how most people view history. A truly different history would require several events to have a different outcome, but that's less dramatic and only really appeals to a very narrow niche.

UNC_Samurai:The problem is, most alt history has to revolve around changing a single point in history; that's how most people view history. A truly different history would require several events to have a different outcome, but that's less dramatic and only really appeals to a very narrow niche.

So what you're saying is...for the sake of fiction these hacks are simply using the time displacement as a narrative?!

I am SHOCKED! SHOCKED I tell you that someone would go out of there way to use an innaccurate use of time manipulation.

the only alt history book i remember reading falls into the category of tripe that the author is tired of -- ww2 alt history. Ben Bova's Triumph was a decent read when i was 18 or 19 but not enough to relive to see if it still holds up. plus it had no monsters or anything, just straight up alt history.

If you're not a reader, and not tired to death of alternate WWII histories, check out the film "Fatherlands" with Rutger Hauer. It's set in post WWII Germany in advance of an upcoming summit between Hitler and JFK. It's pretty good.

The 1632 series was good for the first few books (the ones written by Flint and Weber), but it really bogged down after a while; a lot of the authors he brought in were nowhere near as good. A very interesting premise, though.

I have that book, Alternative Histories of the World, by Matthew Buchholz.

It is a sort of artistic mash-up of photographs, maps, lithographs and other art work based on the premise that various monsters of horror and science fiction are real. It's quite clever and funny and nice to look at.

SPOILER

Only one of the artworks is seemingly not altered. It is a Japanese print of Tokyo and Mount Fiji. Alone of all the places in the world, not irradiated monsters or freaks have ever attacked Toyko. It is an island of sanity, calm and normalcy in a sea of weirdness.

That should give you an idea of what the book is like. I recommend it.

Alt history where something happens that affects the US Civil War or WW2 is overdone, like the article says, but Godzilla attacking Boston in 1773 is an interesting twist. One that i'm sure ends in the British subjects in the American colonies realising, finally, just how much Britain does for them, and the lengths and sacrifices it makes to guarantee the safety of the colonies. Realising this they agree a small tax on tea isn't too much to ask and everyone lives happily ever after.

That's even worse than alt history. That's alt fantasy.

What if Godzilla attacked Boston in 1773 instead of attacking Tokyo in whatever 20th century year Godzilla attacked Tokyo? Spare me.

Alt history actually could be quite interesting. In this case it makes me wonder if there is any policy England could have enacted which would placate the US colonies and make them remain loyal - or at least loyal enough to follow a path like Australia or Canada.

An alt "history" where Godzilla attacks Boston in the 18th century? Okay, if they make a movie out of it I'll watch it when it hits Netflix knowing that it will probably suck.

But isn't Godzilla the result of nuclear fallout or some shiat? Imagine if the US had nukes back in the 18th century. Oh man, we would have nuked everything. The Trail of Tears? That sounds bad, maybe we should just use a nuke!

What, they burned the White House? Oh hell no, Canada is now a glass parking lot.

The Alamo probably would have turned out differently too.

And just think, we would have shared that technology with France. Now Imagine the French Revolution.....with nuclear weapons. Awesome.

cameroncrazy1984:Richard C Stanford: How about a scenario where China and the Soviet Union went to war in the 70s? That would be interesting.

The Bear and The Dragon. Good book.

I'm currently reading the Nantucket series. I love me some straight up time-travel alternate history.

Yeah, I enjoyed it as well as the Embers series where we find out what happened to everyone else.

MuonNeutrino:The 1632 series was good for the first few books (the ones written by Flint and Weber), but it really bogged down after a while; a lot of the authors he brought in were nowhere near as good. A very interesting premise, though.

Yeah I sort of fell off after awhile since I couldn't keep up. It is one of the few series fully willing to let anyone play in their universe though.

Alt history where something happens that affects the US Civil War or WW2 is overdone, like the article says, but Godzilla attacking Boston in 1773 is an interesting twist. One that i'm sure ends in the British subjects in the American colonies realising, finally, just how much Britain does for them, and the lengths and sacrifices it makes to guarantee the safety of the colonies. Realising this they agree a small tax on tea isn't too much to ask and everyone lives happily ever after.

That's even worse than alt history. That's alt fantasy.

What if Godzilla attacked Boston in 1773 instead of attacking Tokyo in whatever 20th century year Godzilla attacked Tokyo? Spare me.

Alt history actually could be quite interesting. In this case it makes me wonder if there is any policy England could have enacted which would placate the US colonies and make them remain loyal - or at least loyal enough to follow a path like Australia or Canada.

An alt "history" where Godzilla attacks Boston in the 18th century? Okay, if they make a movie out of it I'll watch it when it hits Netflix knowing that it will probably suck.

But isn't Godzilla the result of nuclear fallout or some shiat? Imagine if the US had nukes back in the 18th century. Oh man, we would have nuked everything. The Trail of Tears? That sounds bad, maybe we should just use a nuke!

What, they burned the White House? Oh hell no, Canada is now a glass parking lot.

The Alamo probably would have turned out differently too.

And just think, we would have shared that technology with France. Now Imagine the French Revolution.....with nuclear weapons. Awesome.

Pax Nucleareum....or whatever the latin for nuclear weapons is.

It's not actually Godzilla, it's the Beast from the Unknown, I just said Godzilla because I was lazy.

Sorry to neglect the Civil War. What if Fort Sumter were the only nuclear base in the US when the shiat hit the fan. Does that mean Fort Sumter would have destroyed Johnny Reb along with itself or that the South could have taken over and nuked Washington DC?

Even if we had nukes back then, how would they be delivered? If we had nukes does that automatically mean we would have had missiles capable of delivering them long distance?

And what if John Lennon had been alive and sang Give Peach a Chance (yeah, typo, but I like it so I'm leaving it there).

One alternate history scenario I've been toying with for several months now is one in which the Centralists fail to take control of Mexico after it breaks away from Spain. That would mean, among other things, that the 1824 Constitution would not be suspended, and thus Texas would no longer have a reason to secede from Mexico, so Texas would either remain a Mexican state or wouldn't secede until later (possibly after the American Civil War). Depending on how subsequent events would play out, it might also mean that the Mexican-American War doesn't happen at all, leaving Mexico with nearly twice as much territory as it has today, including Texas, California, and much of the American southwest.

MuonNeutrino:The 1632 series was good for the first few books (the ones written by Flint and Weber), but it really bogged down after a while; a lot of the authors he brought in were nowhere near as good. A very interesting premise, though.

I can easily see some of these being adapted to film. Especially the G.R.R. Martin one. Somebody will try to ride the coattails of ASOIAF. Might not be that well done, but, its logical that someone will see dollar signs and want to go for it.